Brandirectory has released its list of the world's 500 most valuable brands, which is measured byestimating the future revenue attributable to a brand and determines the value a company would be willing to pay to license its brand as if it did not own it.

In terms of individual countries, U.S. brands occupy 185 of the 500 spots, including 9 of the top 10.

Japan is second as the brand value of its three biggest brands — Toyota, Mitsubishi and Honda — increased in value by more than 30%.

The survey notes that Germany, France, and the UK complete the top 5 while China, the world’s second biggest economy, comes in 6th in terms of total brand value as its brands are still developing.

Notable rises from last year include Verizon (from 10 to 5), Nike (60 to 35), and Allianz (75 to 38) while drops include Shell (from 12 to 18), Home Depot (18 to 25), and Marlboro (57 to 81).